


She is a He and it doesn't matter

by LoLecter



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Child, FTM, Fatherhood, Fluff, Fluffy, Gender Identity, Hannibal is a Cannibal, Kid - Freeform, M/M, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Transboy, Transgender, Transgender Kid, Will Knows, boy clothes, good parenting, open minded parent, parenting, wearing suits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 16:43:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1906350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoLecter/pseuds/LoLecter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Almost 8 years ago he had thought he had had a daughter. It turned out he had been wrong. He had a son and it didn’t matter in the least bit. "<br/>Hannibal and Will have a girl named Alexandra. Their girl however turn out to be a little different than what they had expected. She is a boy and it is obvious pretty soon.<br/>Or how Hannibal and Will would deal with having a child who is transgender. They would be amazing about it of course so that's just to show how great they would be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She is a He and it doesn't matter

**Author's Note:**

> I was supposed to continue my other story, but I went and wrote this one shot instead. Not sorry.  
> It's basically Hannibal and Will being the parent every transgender people wish they had had because we all know they would be.  
> Will knows Hannibal is a cannibal and doesn't care. Also I have never wrote for children before so sorry if they sound not the right age or something. 
> 
> One last thing: if you see any mistakes feel free to point them out to me.

Hannibal and Will had been together for three years when they had decided to have a child. They had chosen a surrogate mother together; a blonde young woman who had carried Will’s child and had been very nice and polite with them all the way through.

Alexandra Graham Lecter, even though she had an unconventional family, not only because she had two fathers, could not have been more loved and cherished. Hannibal and Will loved her with all their hearts from the moment they saw her and gave her more than everything she needed.

Beside them she also had what one could consider a pretty big entourage. None of the two men had any family left, but with their friends they had all the people they needed. Alana bloom was her god mother and Jimmy Price her god father. Bryan being married with Jimmy and having a little boy of roughly the same age together, Alexandra saw them often and got a play companion pretty early in her life. When they had a daughter named Charlotte a year later she even got another one.

Beverly was still a very good friend of Will so she was considered “aunt Beverly” by his daughter who loved to see her, her husband Noah, and their daughter Madeline. She loved Thomas, Jimmy’s son, a lot more than Madeline, but she still tolerated the older girl. Will had been surprised to find out he got on really well with his friend husband. Noah loved fishing and boats just like him and he had strange sense of humor that the empath adored much to Hannibal confusion. The psychiatrist was happy however to see Will having a friend with whom he could share his passions.

All in all Alexandra was a very loved child with a lot of people in her life. She could have turned out completely normal despite her untraditional family. Nonetheless, she was not exactly like everyone else and it was not because one of her father was a cannibalistic serial killer and the other an FBI agent who knew it and didn’t care.

The clothes

Since very young Alexandra had never been a very feminine little girl. She didn’t play very much with doll or love princess and pink things in general. She didn’t hate them she just preferred her stuffed animals and mythical creature of all sort. Mostly scary ones to be honest. They never had to reassure her about any creature under her bed, the child checking herself under it wishing there would be some. In that aspect she was a lot like her fathers. Not scared of anything like Hannibal and adoring animals of all kinds like Will.

By her fourth years Hannibal had given up dressing her up with high priced clothes or dress every day since she spent most of her time playing with Alana’s dogs or running around with the boys at her daycare, always ending up dirty or with holes in her clothes. Not even considering the fact that she complained every time he even suggested a dress to her and if he still dared to make her wear it the little girl would almost always make sure to come back with some big hole in it, painting, crayon or anything that could damage it permanently. On occasion however he still liked to dress her properly when they had guest or he made a dinner party. She obviously didn’t like it, but she stopped trying to take her dress off as soon as it was on her, when her papa gave her a look she would have described as “terrifying”. The little girl was not scared of much, but she knew to be scared when her father made that look.

Nonetheless, the killer didn’t like to force his daughter to do things she obviously disliked very much so this time he had decided to bring her with him shopping so she would be able to chose herself what she would wear to the dinner party this week end. Will was the one who had proposed to let her chose saying that if she selected the outfit herself maybe she wouldn’t not hate it as much. When his partner had asked him if he wanted to come with them he had laughed and said clothes was Hannibal department. 

They went at a specialized shop that had elegant clothes for kids of all sort and he told her to choose something she would like to wear for the reception on Saturday. She barely looked in the section before saying there was not anything. She was looking at the floor and kicking her foot in annoyance. Not discouraged Hannibal showed her different dresses and every time she gave him a disgusted face and a clear “No!”. Finally, she said to him:  
“I don’t like dresses.”

Her dad paused at that. “What about skirts?”  
She nodded negatively. Neither then. Maybe Will had been wrong finally. Maybe their daughter just didn’t like to dress up. She would be a lot like Will in that department if it was the case, but his lover had gotten used to it with the years and now wore suits or clean shirt every time he asked him to. Hannibal got on one knee to talk to his daughter face to face.  
“Listen young lady, I don’t mind what you wear the rest of the time, but when I give a party you have to wear suitable clothe.”

“I could just not go”

They had tried that, but when she had turned 3 and started walking everywhere it had been impossible to make her go to bed before any of the guest arrived at 4 pm and leaving her in her room the whole time not something she had appreciated. She was too curious of the noise downstairs and had to come and see what was happening. Not counting the fact that the moment she had seen Alana it had been impossible to separate her from the woman. Hannibal remembered with a smile Alexandra impressed face and her little “Wooow. You look pretty” when she had seen Alana dress up for one of his receptions for the first time.

“You know it’s not an option and you love to go. Don’t you want to see Alana?”  
She said nothing looking at his chest, chewing her little lips.

“Do you remember how you thought Alana looked pretty in her dress? You could be as pretty as her if you helped me choose one.”

The child still didn’t look up. Desperate and out of idea the man sighed getting up and something gave him an idea. He had not thought of it before, but seeing the suits in the other section, he smiled thinking “Why not?” He took a firmer tone and said looking more severe:  
“You have three choices Alexandra. You either wear a dress, a skirt or a suit. I don’t care which one, but you will wear something from this shop at the reception.”

Suddenly, looking hopeful, the girl looked up at him.  
“I can wear a suit?” she asked with big eyes.

“If you would prefer it to a dress, yes you can.”  
She gave him an amazed smile and the killer was relieved his idea had worked. Without waiting for him his daughter ran from the girl section to the boy one and started looking at the suits, seeming a lot more enthusiast than she had been sooner. 

It barely took her five minutes before she declared “I want this one” pointing at one with a dark green tie and a lighter green shirt. Getting out of the fitting room ten minutes later the child came to him to ask him to fasten her tie. While doing it he told her he would show her how to do it herself if they bought it and that made her even happier. The sleeves were a bit too long, but the rest was perfect so he asked the salesman to come and take the measurement for her arms in order to make the adjustment necessary later. He only had a couple of days left before the reception, but if he gave the shop enough money he was sure it would be done in time.  

The sales man looked very tempted to comment on the fact that she was a little girl and should be wearing a dress, but one look from Hannibal made him keep quiet. Alexandra could barely hold in place because of how happy she was. He would not let some ridicule gender normative convention stop him from making his daughter happy.

When Will arrived for supper that night the child wasted no time telling him what they had bought for the reception. A bit surprised and amused at the same time, her dad looked at his lover: “A suit?”  
“It is the only thing she agreed to wear.”  
Will laughed a little bit at his daughter originality and then shrugged and made a face to Hannibal that clearly meant “Why not? If that’s what she wants”.  
“Why are you laughing daddy?” asked the little girl confused.  
“Nothing sweet heart. I’m sure you look beautiful in it. What does it look like?”  
She started to describe him the color in details and told him all about her father promising to teach her how to tie her tie.

The day of the party Alexandra was ready a lot sooner than usual. Not spending an hour running around to try to avoid getting dressed had helped a lot with that. They had put her brown hair in a ponytail and tamed her light curls, heritage from Will, as best as they could. She looked lovely and most of all very happy, which was not necessarily usual before a dinner party.

Alana always arrived with the first guest to spend the most time possible with the child before she went to bed at 8 pm. She was used to have the little girl come greet her as soon as she arrived, but this time the girl literally ran up to her and jumped in her arm.

“Alex be careful. You don’t want to mess up Alana's dress” said Will too late for his daughter to stop.  
“Sorry” she answered, letting go of the woman shoulder and going back on the floor.  
Giddy from this display of enthusiast Alana laughed.   
“It’s ok Alex. I don’t mind.”  
The father smiled at his friend understanding. His daughter happiness was very contagious and it was hard to resist her. He knew that very well. The psychiatrist finally noticed what the girl was wearing and before she had time to comment she was given a very detailed and excited explanation.  
“Look, I have a suit. I didn’t want to wear a dress or skirt so papa said I could wear a suit if I wanted. I choose this one because I like green. Do you like it?”

“It’s very nice. You look beautiful in it.” The child laughed, blushing slightly.  
Alana looked at Will one eyebrow raised. Not in condemnation, but curiosity. Will shrugged. “She hates wearing dresses and Hannibal insisted she wears something proper. Plus it made her happy so why not.”

The woman smiled amused and gave her attention back to the little girl. She looked very happy indeed.  Alexandra spent the rest of her night showing of her suit to every guest she knew, not aware of the looks some of them some of them gave her or her fathers. They knew if they dared to make a comment that would hurt the child feelings they would never be invited again. The warning look Hannibal gave them when presenting his daughter told them that.

When it was time to go to bed Alexandra gave Alana a long hug, went to say goodnight to her papa and followed her father in her room without complaining. When they had a dinner party it was always Will who took mostly care of the child leaving Hannibal to his cooking before and all the guest tending he had to do during. To tell the truth he didn’t really care that much about the guest, but he enjoyed watching all those people eat human without knowing it too much for Will to deprive him of that.

Their daughter was too tired to take her bath so he just putted her directly in her pyjama. At first she asked if she could sleep with her suit, but he told her it would damage it and she understood even if it saddened her. She had been very careful all night to not damage it in any way or drop any food on it. She obviously loved it a lot. He gave her her favorite pyjama with all the funny monsters on it to console her and it worked. She fell asleep fast after her long day and with still, Will noticed, a little contented smile on her face.

From then on it was not a struggle anymore to dress their daughter appropriately when the need arose. She would wear any suits Hannibal choose for her and it only took her two months to learn how to tie a tie, and 3 a bow tie. She even wore the nice plain shirt her father bought her when they had friends over without complaining, even thought she preferred her plaid one like Will.

She had never dressed very girly before, but having been given the permission to shop in the boy section once it gave her the confidence to go in it every time and buy whatever clothes she wanted. Her fathers didn’t care enough about gender normativity or social convention to stop her from doing what made her happy so in six months she ended with only boys clothes left in her wardrobe and she only seemed happier for it.

 

Alana

From all of the people in her life Alana was definitely their daughter favorite. Very soon she had loved to spend time with her and the woman had been her appointed babysitter every time her fathers had needed a break or some time alone together.

Alexandra loved her more than anyone else beside her fathers. When she was with her she always ended up in her arms somehow or hugging her. It was how they knew that she loved her very much indeed because the little girl didn’t like touching or being touched by anyone else besides her fathers and Alana.

It was not something she told a lot of people, but Alana could not have children and she had been sad about it for a long time, but not anymore.  The child would come spend the week end at her house a couple of times a year. Sometimes more if Hannibal and Will needed it. She would come to see them every week and go do something alone with the girl at least once a month. For Alana Alexandra was like a daughter.

The reverse was also truth and when she was five Hannibal realized how much of a parental figure the woman was for their daughter. Bryan and Jimmy had come to a BBQ organised by them, bringing Thomas and Charlotte with them. Beverly, her husband and their daughter had been there and Alana too of course.

At the beginning Hannibal had not liked the idea of a BBQ finding it vulgar, but Will had convinced him by telling him he could use the meat he wanted and make the meal as fancy as he desired as long it was doable on the BBQ.

At one point during the night two temporary groups had formed. Jimmy, Bryan with Madeline on his lap, and Beverly in one. Hannibal, Will, Beverly husband's Noah, and Alana in the other. Thomas, Charlotte and Alexandra were all sitting directly on the ground close to them.

They were playing with some figurines and one had just married another when Charlotte had said that when she was older she was gonna marry her dad Bryan. Alexandra had answered by saying: “Me, when I grow up I want to marry Alana.”

The two children had looked at her surprised. Being still three Charlotte had not yet learned that a woman could also be with a woman and to be fair she was a big fan of princess marrying prince. Prince marrying prince were ok too, because there was a prince in there somewhere. Princess and princess however she had never seen.

“You can’t. You have to marry a boy.”  
“No, I don’t.”  
“Yes you have. You are a girl.”  
“Not true.”  
Thomas only looked at the two girls confused, not saying a word. He just wanted to go back to playing figurine. Determined to win the argument Alexandra got up and said:  
“We will go ask. You will see I’m right.”  
Charlotte followed her.

Will heard his daughter call him and stopped his conversation with Alana, Noah and Hannibal to look at her. She ran up to him. “Daddy. Daddy!”  
“What wrong?”  
Before she had time to answer, Charlotte explained: “I said I want to marry daddy when I grow up and Alex said she will marry Alana when she grows up, but she can’t. Alana is a girl.”

The four adult all froze for a second and Will nearly strangled himself with his last sip of beer. Hearing that Alex wanted to marry a girl would probably have not been that much of a shock had she not been 5 years old.  So his daughter was gay... or maybe bi. Who the hell knew at this stage? Okay, he thought to himself already accepting it. He saw Alana blushing slightly. Thank god Hannibal got over his little surprise really fast and answered the children unasked question.  
“Alexandra can marry whoever she wants when she gets older. A Man or woman. There is no problem with either of them.”  
Will continued: “Like your daddy married each other, girls can also marry girls.” He was appalled that Jimmy and Bryan had never told that to their children. He looked at his daughter especially, saying the last part.

“So I can marry Alana?” she asked him.  
He chuckled at that and the one concerned bit her lips amused. Hannibal ever the rational man said: “Alana might be married herself one day, but if you still want to when you are older and she is not married you can ask her.”

Alex decided not to wait and go ask her directly. She went close to Alana and looked at her with a look that reminder her a lot of Will when he was making puppy eyes at Hannibal: “Alana can I marry you when I get older?”  
“Of course. If you still want to then. Me or any girl for that matter.”  
She kissed the child on the head and smiled warmly at her.

The little girl turned back to Charlotte: “See I told you so” and ran over back to Thomas who was still sitting, playing with the figurines.

There was an awkward silence for a moment before they all started laughing. Well. except Hannibal who only smiled. Noah exclaimed: “I guess you’re not gonna have to wait to learn what team she plays on”.  
“I guess not” said Will.

That night after everyone was gone and Alexandra asleep he took a bath with his lover and pondered the event of the day.  
“I never heard of any kids saying they wanted to marry their god mother when they grew up.” He said amused while leaning against Hannibal chest.    
“I believe our daughter is in her Oedipus phase.”  
“I’m not a psychiatrist, but isn’t the Oedipus complex about wanting to marry your mother or something?”  
“A lot of children will go through a phase in which they believe they will marry the parent of the opposite gender. Or of the same gender if it is their preference. And in this case both her parents are male and she apparently prefers woman so she chose the closest thing she had to a mother.”  
“Make sense. So I guess that means she considers Alana like her mother.”  
 “She is, in a lot of ways.”  
“Yes, she is. And she apparently intend to marry her”  
Will laughed and closed his eyes enjoying the quiet and the feeling of Hannibal’s skin against his in the hot water.

The haircut

Alexandra had beautiful light brown hair that almost looked blond in the sun. It curled a little just like Will and most of the time she had them in a ponytail. She didn’t like caring for it or brushing them. She didn’t like them at all in fact. She didn’t say it and tolerated it since her dad seemed to love them, but one day at 6 years old she got tired of it.

It was just before her bedtime. Will was brushing her hair while she sat, sighing dramatically again and again. Her father only laughed at that, ignoring her.

“Dad, why do I have to have long hair? “

The man stopped what he was doing for a moment surprised. He didn’t really know what to say to that. “I...I don’t know. I guess it’s just a tradition. Girls usually have long hair. Do you not like it?”

“No. I want short hair like all the boys.” She said in a sad, annoyed tone that made him feel guilty for never asking her before. He turned her toward him to look at her while saying:  
“I’m sorry I never asked you before sweetie. If that’s what you want we will make an appointment with the hairdresser as soon as possible.”  
“Really?” she asked with an enthusiast smile.  
“Really” he said messing with her hair a little and making a giggle. When it was time to go to sleep later she jumped around his neck. Hugging him tidily she murmured in his shoulder: “Thank you daddy!”

When he went to join Hannibal in their bedroom the man was changing in his night attire.  
“Alex wants to get her hair cut short.”  
The European man stopped to look at him with a very not surprised look before proceeding to finish taking his shirt off.   
“I told her we would take an appointment to do it as soon as possible.”  
“I will take an appointment with her hairdresser this week.”  
“Thank you”

Five minutes later when they were both in bed for the night Will stated: “You did not look surprised.”  
“She complains every time she has to take care of her hair. I had guessed it would come eventually.”  
Will put his head on Hannibal shoulder and a hand on his chest, caressing it absentmindedly. “We have raised a true little tomboy” he commented smiling.  
“Yes, we could say that” his lover agreed smiling too before kissing his head.  
“We will show her some pictures tomorrow so she can decide what she wants exactly.”  He added. Yawning, Will nodded and kissed his shoulder before closing his eyes to fall asleep.

The next night, with his daughter on his lap he went to the computer and started looking for haircut. Alexandra didn’t seem to really like any of the pictures he showed her until she saw on the side bar of a website one for boy and pointed at it.  
 “I want one like this”  
Will clicked on it. “You want this?” It was shorter than all the one he had shown her before. The fact that it was a boy cut probably had something to do with it. He had been showing her girl haircut.  
“No, but I want something like this.”  
He then started to search for boy haircut and soon the little girl had found what she wanted.

Two days later Hannibal took Alexandra to her appointment in the afternoon. The child had had the same hairdresser since she was 4. It was a woman in a thirty, always dressed very elegantly and who had been doing Hannibal hair for the last ten years. He had not wanted just anyone he didn’t trust cutting his daughter hair. She didn’t usually do children since they could be noisy or annoying, but for him she had made an exception.

His little girl was very well behaved when with stranger or anyone who wasn’t Will, Alana or himself. It was like she sensed that she could risk being bad when with only the three of them, but as soon as they were other people around, her papa would punish her a lot more severely if she misbehaved.

With a lot of confidence and without even saying hi to her first she went to the woman directly and showed her the picture Will had printed. “I want this”  
Juliette, the hairdresser took the picture in her hand, and without waiting for any comment Alexandra went to sit in the chair.

Hannibal went to sit in the comfortable chair close to them trusting his daughter to ask for what she wanted. He inclined his head lightly to salute the woman and smiled looking at the little girl already sitting, ready to start.

The hairdresser said to the little girl: “You do know it’s a boy haircut sweetheart, right? “  
The little brunette rolled her eyes. “Yes”  
“And your dad is fine with that?”  
The child looked at her father sitting beside them with a face that said “Is she serious right now?”  Hannibal could not stop himself from chuckling a little before getting a hold of himself and saying. “It is her hair. She should do as she likes.”

The look he gave the woman made her understand she should not question the child anymore or else. Thirty five minute later his daughter had shorter hair than him and seemed very happy about it. The instant Juliette took the apron off her she jumped out of the chair and ran in Hannibal arms.  
“Papa, papa look! My hairs are shorter than you!” She almost screamed amazed while touching her head.

The man was hit by how much like a boy she looked like this. With the boy clothes and this haircut, had he seen her in the street he could have easily taken her for a little boy. Her resemblance with Will was also a lot more evident like that. He smiled at her. She was as beautiful as her father.  
“Yes, Alexandra and it looks beautiful.” He said caressing her little head. Her curl had almost completely disappeared at this length.

She hugged him hard and then got back on her feet. She was almost jumping in place when he paid for the haircut and then could barely sit still in the car on their way back home. She could not wait to show it to her daddy.

When he had seen her Will had also been hit, by how much like him she looked like this. It had made him a bit emotional and seeing his daughter so happy had been very nice too. If it was up to her they would have gone to Alana that night to show her her new hair, but they told her they had invited her for diner the next day and that she would bring her dogs so that she could play with them all afternoon if she wanted.

Alana coming a Saturday to spend the day with them was nothing unusual, but Alexandra seemed a lot more excited about it than usual. To spare her the shock Will called her that night to tell her about the little girl new haircut.  
“She would have loved to show you immediately, but we told her she could show it to you tomorrow.”  
The woman laughed.  
“When you say short...”  
“I mean really short. Shorter than me or Hannibal. She looks so much like me like that it’s crazy.”  
“She always looked like you”  
“Yes, but now it’s more intense. You will see.”

When she arrived in for diner the next day all she could say was “You were right. She looks like a younger version of you.”  
She didn’t add that consequently she also very much looked like boy, because she was sure he already knew and didn’t care anyway. Alexandra was happy with how she looked and it was all that mattered.

“Do you like it?” she had asked her very soon after her arrival.  
“I think you look great.” She had answered with a big smile, giving her a wink. The child had giggled like she often did every time Alana made her a compliment.

When they went to sat at the table outside to eat (it was a very beautiful day) she said to her in almost a whisper, not really seeming to want an answer “Do you think I look like a boy? I think I do” and then she smiled happily to herself. When the woman looked up not knowing what to think or say she saw that Hannibal had been looking and had heard what his daughter had said. He seemed sad for a moment, but it went away a second later and things went on as usual.

 

The talks

Hannibal Lecter was a very observant person. Even if he had not been a psychiatrist and knowing on the subject as much as he was he would have probably noticed there was something going on with his daughter. She wasn’t simply a little tomboy. There had been a lot of signs, but recently some even more obvious one had appeared.

The little girl had never been called Alexandra very much growing up. Apart from teachers when she started school and Hannibal almost everyone called her Alex. The girl seemed to prefer it, but didn’t mind her dad using her full name. When she had turned 7 however she had started to look very annoyed every time someone used Alexandra to call her. She didn’t say it at first and wanting to be sure the psychiatrist had kept on calling her that until one day she had exploded and said: “Papa stop calling me Alexandra. I’m Alex.”  
“Your name is Alexandra if I’m not mistaken.” he had said not really in protest, but more to see what she would say.  
“Yes, but I don’t like it. I like Alex better.”  
That had given him his answer and from then on he had forced himself to call her Alex.

Being seven she had also started to get curious about sexuality and what would happen when she grew up. A Monday night she had come to him in the kitchen after school and asked him: “Papa, what will happen when I grow up?”  
“What do you mean?”  
The question was a bit vague.  
“I mean will I have breast like Alana and aunt Beverly?”  
His daughter was very smart for her age and he was surprised she had not already figured this out.  
“Yes, you will, as well as other things.”  
She had looked alarmed: “Other things?”

It was then he had decided it was not too soon to start talking to her about puberty and the change her body would go through in a couple of years. He had sat her down with him on the sofa and an anatomy book and explained to her menstruations, hormones and how her body would evolve for her to be able to carry a baby. 

All the while during his explanation Alex started to look more and more worried. By the end of it she looked like he had told her she would have to walk on fire bare feet for the rest of her life. Truly miserable.

“And all of this will happen even if I don’t want babies?”  
“I am afraid so”

She had not said anything and looked back at the image in the book her little face full of despair.  
“Thank you for telling me” she had said after some time, polite as he had taught her, and had gone in their backyard to sit on the grass by herself until supper. That night Will had noticed she talked a lot less than usual and when he had tried to ask her if something was wrong she had answered; “Nothing. I’m fine.” in a sad tone that had broken the serial killer heart.

This had been the last clue he needed to confirm the theory he had had for two years now. His daughter who had once been a very happy child had already started get dark mood from time to time after some things happened or someone told her something she was trying to forget. It could be Charlotte telling her “You are not a boy so why do you look like one?” or Thomas telling her she could not come and play a game with him and his friends because it was only for boys.

Being the man he was, he decided it was time to do something about it and try to help his child better understand what was happening to her and how it could be helped. While Alex knew all about homosexuality and she had once seen a transwoman with Will she had never been given clear information about what is was to be transgender.

A Sunday afternoon Hannibal decided it was time so he sat her in front of a little movie adapted for children that explained everything and showed children and adult transsexual. She listened with more attention than he had probably never seen her give any documentary or cartoon even. At the end of it she stayed silent, eyes still fixated on the screen. He could see that the wheels where spinning in her heads.  
“Do you have any question?”  
All she could get out in that moment was:”So you can get boy parts even if you are born a girl?”  
“Yes. You can also stop the process your body go through during puberty and take hormones to have a male puberty instead.”  
“You don’t grow breast or have your period?”  
“No”  
She looked at him amazed and appalled by the idea. All those things that tortured her did not have to happen at all. It was a lot to take in. It was good news, but big news still. Alex got up and said: “Thank you papa. Can I go now? I wanted to play with Grog in the yard”

Grog was her new toy figurine, as big as a football ball, and in Hannibal opinion very ugly, but since it was a monster he supposed it was normal. He smiled and let her go sensing that she needed time on her own to assimilate everything.

Alex spoke a bit less than usual in the next couple of days, but she didn’t seem sad or depress as she had before, just lost in her thought a lot. Will noticed and worried, but Hannibal reassured him and told him he had showed her a documentary that had given her a lot to think about. His lover didn’t ask more about it, but was still worried for his daughter who had seemed to look sad more and more often in the last 2 years.

During a week the child would come randomly to Hannibal at all times to ask him a question she had about the documentary or transsexuality in general. “So those people are real boy after they change?” “Are people mean to you if you are transgender?” “So they were already boy when they were born it’s just that there was a mistake, that’s it?” He would answer her question the best he could and she would go right after that.

Ten days after he had shown her the movie she came to his office after supper and without a word sat on his sofa.  
“Hello”, the psychiatrist said looking up from the files on his desk.  
She didn’t answer looking at the floor and clenching her little fist again and again, a thing she did when she was nervous. The man got up from his chair and went to sit beside her, taking her up to sit her in his lap. She seemed to relax a little in his arms. Finally, she said: “You know the movie you showed me?”  
“Yes” he answered in a very patient tone.

She placed her head on his shoulder and started to play with his tie. He let her for a moment and then she stopped and continued: “I think I am like in the movie. There was a mistake when I was born. I’m not a girl. I’m a boy. Like you and daddy.”

The good thing about all of this was that he was not surprised in the least since he had almost pushed her to realize it. He still asked curious to hear what she would say: “What makes you think that?”  
She started playing with his tie again, but she seemed more comfortable to talk this time. Her voice was higher and steadier.  
"It's just that I don't like all of those girls’ things the other likes. And I like having short hair and dressing like daddy. And I don't like when you or people call me Alexandra. It's a girl name. I am not a girl. Also when I grow up I want to marry a girl."

"You know you can marry a girl even if you stay a girl. There is nothing wrong with that."

She nodded looking him in the eyes for the first time since she had started talking.

"I know. I just don't want... I want to be a boy marrying a girl. Not a girl marrying a girl. Even if I know it's ok for girls to marry girls."  
"Ok then. If you are sure..." and he caressed her curly hair, which looked so much like Will’s.  
"I am sure. I am a boy.  I don't want breast. I want a penis like all boys."

He laughed at the way she had said that with such conviction. If he had any doubt left, he wouldn’t have any now.    
"Would you like us to refer to you as our son and use _him_ and _he_?"  
She looked like she hadn't even hoped for that much. She shook her head eagerly to approve.  
"And what about your name?"  
"Is Alex not good?"  
"Yes, but it is a shortened name for your feminine name. You can choose another one if you like. Or a similar one. What do you think of Alexander? That way you can still use Alex if you want and when we want to use your complete name we can say Alexander. It is also similar enough so that people won’t have difficulty remembering it."  
She looked at him thinking: "Alexander instead of Alexandra?"  
A lot was happening in her head and her little face showed just how hard she was thinking at the moment.  
"Yes. I would prefer to have a complete name to use when calling you. "  
"Alexander.... “she whispered to hear it out loud once more. “Yes. I think I would like it."

“It is settled then.” He said smiling and kissed her... no he had to get use to it... and kissed him on the head.

“What about people at school? Will they call me Alexander and say him and he if I ask them?” the little boy asked.  
This part was gonna be more complicated and he still needed to tell every one of their friends first.

"I think for now we will ask all the people we know out of school and in a month or so if you like it we will go together to your school to talk to your teacher.”  
"ok" she sighed. He didn’t seem very happy about it, but he understood.  He suddenly froze and looked at him with big worried eyes.  
"Do I have to tell daddy? I am scared he won't understand because he hasn't seen the movie."  
Hannibal laughed. He didn’t want to make it look like his worries were not important to him, but he was pretty sure his son didn’t have to worry about his father. Will loved him no matter what and if he could accept a cannibal for a life partner he would have no difficulty accepting his child was transgender.

"You father is a very smart man. He will understand, but I will tell him myself if you prefer me to."  
He nodded. “Thank you papa.”  
“You will however have to talk to him about it later. You daddy will want to discuss it with you.”  
“If you explain to him before it’s ok”

So that is how Hannibal Lecter was left with the task of informing his lover that their daughter was actually their son. He wasn’t exactly nervous, but he didn’t look forward to it. He insisted to be the one to put their son to bed that night and even if the he was still worried about a lot of things Alex seemed genuinely happier. Like a huge weight had been took off of his shoulder. He wasn’t alone with this anymore. He would get help from his father and eventually become a real boy. It was even better than Christmas and his birthday put together.

When he came back to their room Will was sitting at his little desk looking over copies of exams he had started to correct earlier for his class at the academy.  
“Will, I need to talk to you about something important. Could you stop your corrections for tonight please?”  
Suddenly feeling very worried the FBI agent got up and went to sit on the bed facing Hannibal who stayed up. “What is it? You look almost nervous. You never look nervous. Did you kill someone you shouldn’t have? Does Jack....”  
“Don’t worry my dear! It is nothing bad. It is not necessarily good either, but the fact that we know so soon is a very good thing.”  
“OK, I’m confused now. Know what?”

“You have noticed that our daughter has always been a little bit different. You call it being a _tomboy_. She has also had depressive moods in the last two years. She gets sad or upset and you never get an explanation. I know it bothers you. I believed I had discovered an explanation a while ago, but I wasn’t 100% sure until recently. Last week, I gave her some information that might help her put a word to what she was feeling. She came to me today to tell me what I had been suspecting. She is transgender or if you prefer a boy in a girl body.”

Will had gone from curious to the point of being annoyed, to his brain freezing from shock and incapable of forming a coherent phrase for a good minute. His lover had already stopped talking and was waiting for him to say something. Finally, once the initial shock had gone away the first thing he thought was: “Well, it kind of makes sense. It’s not even that surprising really. ” What he said out loud however was:  
 “So... she feels like a boy...”  
“Yes”  
“And she wants to become a boy...”  
“Yes, even if technically, I believe that she already is inside. All she wants is to have a body that match how she feels.”  
“Yeah, yeah of course. I understand and I agree. I just meant it in a... she wants to change her body way.” Will responded looking a bit overwhelmed.

“She says she wants to have male sex organs and doesn’t want to have breast, but we have many years in front of us before even considering any kind of surgery. If that is what worries you.”  
“Yeah, I have to admit I don’t like the idea of her... well him going through so much surgery, but I guess if that’s what she... he wants...”  
“For now the only things our son desire is to be called Alex or Alexander and be referred to with masculine pronoun as you just did.  Soon maybe we will consider sending him to a doctor to get puberty blockers, but we still have a little time.”  
The man on the bed was silent for a moment. “Alexander?” he finally got out smiling a little.  “I proposed it to him and he accepted.”

His partner got more serious as he remembered some of the things he had said in his speech. “For how long have you known?”  
 “Like I said I only suspected...”  
“Suspected then.” He cut him sounding a little angry.  
“Since he got his hair cut.”  
“Two years! You suspected it for almost two years and you never told me anything about it!”  
“I didn’t want to assume things and worry you for nothing. I could have been wrong” answered Hannibal sounding very unaffected by his anger.

Will took a deep breath and seemed to calm down a little.  
“You said you gave her information to help... him sorry. You said you gave him some information. What was it?”  
“I simply showed him a documentary on transgender people and answered any question he had about it later.”

The empath looked at him trying to assume his point of view.  
“You wanted to help he...him realize it as soon as possible so that you could spare him some suffering.”  
The psychiatrist smiled. “You are right. I have known some transsexual in my line of work and the later they realized it the harder it was for them. I don’t want our child teenage years to be spent feeling horrible because of a body that he hates or his twenties to be consumed with surgeries and paperwork to change his name and get everything he needs to just to be considered by everyone as the man he is.”

“Come here” Will said with a little smile and his lover went to join him on the bed. The younger man kissed him softly and put his arms around him.  
“You may be a secretive, manipulative bastard sometimes, but you are a good father Hannibal and I love you for it.”

The killer didn’t say anything and broke the hug to look at his partner with a look that showed how appreciative he was. Will kissed him again and lay down on the bed with him, using his shoulder as a pillow. They stayed silent together just enjoying each other until:  
“It will probably sound stupid to you, but did being raised by two fathers have anything to do with...”  
Laughing a bit a psychiatrist said: “Will, have you seen Charlotte Price? I don’t think I have ever seen a more feminine little girl and she was raised by two men.”  
The empath laughed too.  
“Yeah, you are right. It was a stupid question”

A thought suddenly erupted in Will brain that he had not considered before.  
“What about school?”  
“What about school?”  
“I mean what will we tell them? Will they be ok with calling him Alexander and referring to him as a boy even if his name is not legally changed and all?”  
“I will go have a conversation with them and if a donation to the school doesn’t make them agree we will change school. I do hope for the director that he agrees with our demands however. I do not want to have to give him to our son for supper.”

“You do realize you won’t be able to kill everyone who discriminate our son for who he is, don’t you?”  His tone was amused more than anything. He knew the man would have been more than ready to kill everyone who was ever unfair or rude to Alexander. He couldn’t help, but feeling touched by how protective he was of the boy.

Hannibal took a couple of seconds to think before saying: “I can try”  
Will couldn’t help the laugher that erupted from him. God he loved that man. He got up on one arm and kissed him on the lips to show him just how much.

When they separated, out of breath, he continued: “I was still being serious you know. I know you want to protect him, but we can’t protect him forever. He is gonna meet a lot of close minded and bad people in his life. All we can do is teach him how to deal with these people.”  
The killer raised an eyebrow and made a smirk that clearly implied: “Are you really saying what I think you’re saying?”  
“Oh my god! No, I was not saying we should teach him how to kill and eat every rude person he meets. I simply meant that we should teach him how to ignore those people because what they are gonna say to try to hurt him is not truth and they are not worth him feeling bad because of them.”

“I guess it is also an option.” He smiled, clearly mocking his lover.  
Hitting him on the chest the smaller man whispered: “You idiot cannibal”

A lot later after they had gone to bed for good and made love Will asked in a worried tone: “You’re the one telling Alana and the others, right? I don’t think I would be good at it.”  
“Don’t worry my dear. I will take care of everything.”

 And he did.

He called everyone to let them know that Alexandra was now Alexander and they should respect that. Alana was a bit stunned like Will, but in the end she had to admit she suspected it too.

Even after his daddy had reassured him and told him he loved him no matter what, and they had told him all of their friends knew and had no problem with it, Alex was still a bit worried. He needed concrete proof so Hannibal and Will decided to organize a little party and invite all of their friends.

Everyone showed up acting like usual and making a point to use the male pronouns to show their support. Alana told the little boy he looked “Handsome” and that made him blush and smile so much she felt as if she had gave him the best compliment in the world. Hannibal had advised Jimmy to talk to their children and explain everything to them so they would not ask impertinent question to his son. He apparently did so and the only thing Charlotte said about it was “I always knew you were a boy inside”. Thomas also said in an excited tone: “You can come play with me and the other boys now. It’s gonna be awesome” and Alex had to try really hard to not hug his friend in gratitude.

Madeline didn’t say anything besides referring to him and Thomas as “the boys” at one point during the afternoon before taking Charlotte by the hand so they could go play on their own.

All in all everything went more than ok and at the end of the day Alexander was completely reassured and feeling happier than he had ever been before. When all the guest, except Alana, had left Hannibal looked at his son playing with Alana’s dogs in the yard. He looked so carefree and joyful it made his chest hurt from how much he loved the child. Almost 8 years ago he had taught he had had a daughter. It turned out he had been wrong. He had a son and didn’t matter in the least bit.

 

It was going to be a long and complicated road. They would have to convince the school to accept the boy as he was and respect his identity while hoping he wouldn’t get too teased or bullied by other children. They would have to find diverse specialists to write letters, prescribe puberty blockers, hormones and operates. They would have to go through a long and complicated procedure to change their son’s name and sex legally. They would have to help him deal with discrimination for his whole childhood and teenage years. Still even with all of this ahead he couldn’t help, but think, while looking at his son laughing and running with the dogs outside, that everything was going to be ok. Alexander would be ok.

 

 


End file.
